Get Better Soon!
by LuckyBachi
Summary: Lucy has fallen ill and Natsu tries his best to help her out, though he ends up getting into a bit of trouble along the way.
1. Behind Closed Curtains

It was a usual after noon, the guild had quietened down now, most of the people had already chosen themselves a job and had scurried off to fulfil such duties, or had decided to take off for lunch rather than settling in seats like Natsu had done.

It wasn't too late, but it also wasn't often that Lucy took till 12pm to turn up for looking at jobs. It was most likely she had decided on not coming.

Natsu could either pick himself out a job before it turned to late or he could check on Lucy for himself. He first took to just checking with Mira, after all, Lucy might have already said she wasn't coming and he just simply might have forgotten.

"Hoi, Mirajane." Natsu barked, settling himself in the strangely quiet guildhall.

"Yes, Natsu?" She asked, turning in her red barmaid dress, that usual soft smile sitting delicately on her lips as she looked more than happy to speak to the dragon slayer.

"Did Lucy mention anything about not coming today?"

"Not to me, maybe something popped up? I know she wasn't feeling very well yesterday." She replied, bringing more questions to the boy's head.

"She wasn't?"

He frowned a little, the blonde hadn't mentioned anything to him after they came back from a short trip yesterday. However, he had been quite out of it ever since they stepped foot on the carriage so it was possible he had missed her saying such a thing.

"You could go and visit her, I'm sure everything is okay."

"Yeah, I'll check on her." He nodded, he would've done it regardless Mira's answer anyway.

Perhaps that was a good thing. Now he could see if she was sick or not, and at least offer some kind of help. Team mates worked together, and he wanted to make sure his friend would be alright no matter what.  
Though with that, her turned around on the pine seat and settled back on two feet.

"Happy." Natsu called his blue exceed, who sat all too innocently chomping on a fish at the counter.

"Aye?!"

"Let's go check on Lucy."

"Aye." He stumbled up too and hopped down to join his partner's side, the two of her both passing a goodbye smile to Mirajane.

"Let me know how she is!"

"Got it!"

It didn't take them long to get there, Lucy was lucky to live just a walk away from the guild hall, the canal a sparkling clear teal as a single boat drifted along the water.

The sun was bright too, it would be a shame if Lucy was kept up in her room, despite the cold air.

Finally the two reached her house, Natsu glancing up at her bedroom window with curiosity settling in his mind. Her curtains were closed, that was something she never kept closed up, especially if she was awake. Though before Natsu had chance to make his way up and out the window, Happy had already pattered a knock on the front door.

It didn't take it long to swing open, and before Natsu had even moved to the door, he could already smell the air thick of eucalyptus and peppermint oils.

"Natsu…" She murmured, coming into plain view, her blonde locks messy around her face as she wore a blanket draped over her shoulders. Her nose was red and yet her face was pale; eyes brimmed with dark circles. She certainly didn't look like that yesterday.

"Lucy! You look terrible!" Happy squeaked, tumbling backwards on the front rocky floor, surprised by Lucy's condition.

"Thanks.."

She growled, her words nasally. Clearly she had picked up quite the fast working sickness.

"Sorry, I woke up late, so I didn't come down to tell you…"

"How come you didn't mention anything yesterday?"

"Ah, I didn't feel too bad yesterday." She admitted. "Besides, I wouldn't want to worry you. It's just a cold."

"You look terrible." He said immediately, his eyes kept on her uneasy face.  
Though she stepped back, as if allowing them inside.

"I don't want to get you sick too."

"Nah, I'm fine."

He grinned, accepting her offer to go inside.

"I don't get sick."

"That's not what you were saying when you were puking yesterday on the train."

She laughed, sniffing as she muffled her words with a soft, white tissue.

Inside, all her curtains were shut, the room looking small as an old looking movie played on a small lacrima laptop, crowded with tissues and pillows near her small sofa. Books were sprawled around and it looked more like Natsu's home rather than 'Lucy's spotless apartment'.

"You want me to get you anything?" He asked, mindlessly scanning his eyes about.

He knew she wouldn't ask him to do any cleaning, if anything, he'd probably make it messier. But the least he could do was grab her some food or maybe help her with something.

"Ah, no. It's alright. I had some errands to run today but that's all. I can do those later."

"Errands?"

"Yes, jobs and things." She said, dumping herself on the sofa with an exasperated sigh, Happy settling beside her to curl up in the blanket as she petted him.

"Jobs?" He asked, lighting up a little. "Tell me! I can do them for ya."

"Ah, no it's fine. Really. They're not very fun."

"Aw come on! I'll do my best not to break anything, come on, what jobs? I'll do it!"

Natsu clenched his fists in the dull room, standing opposite her as she tried to relax.

"You're sure?" She replied, knowing that she'd already dug herself quite a big hole.

But Natsu wanted to help, and he wasn't just going to sit around knowing that Lucy was sick and she was probably still worrying about all these jobs she'd have to do.

He nodded, sticking his thumb up.

Couldn't be too hard after all, if they were just house duties and things, it would be super easy.

"Let's do this!"

"O-okay." She mumbled, reaching to her coffee table to shuffle through some notes.

Finally, it seemed as though she found the one she was looking for, plucking it up with her lilac tipped fingers.

"I made a list. If you don't want to do any, then just leave them."

He gave her a challenging look as he stepped forward to take the paper from her hands, he wasn't planning on missing any off.

"Right.."

His eyes grazed the paper, scanning the letters. Lucy's handwriting was always so elegant, so even with his slow reading, it was simple to get through.

_'1. Pay this months rent, and also tell the land lady about the dripping in the sink.  
__2\. Go to the dry cleaners and wash light and darks  
__3\. Go grocery shopping (List on back)  
__4\. Get those notes from Mirajane  
__5\. Help Erza with her job (She asked for me!)  
__6\. Get some medicine  
__7\. Get something ready for Levy's on wednesday (bake something?)…'_

The list began to turn into scribbles and Natsu couldn't make out much of the rest. But it looked like a simple note. This was gonna be easy.

"You can just leave it though, they're not to important."

She coughed, leaning back as she observed Natsu.

"No way! I got all this. You just rest up, and I'll do all this."

She gave him a worried look.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I've done stuff like this before, don't worry."

He gave her another winning smile and she finally sighed in defeat.

"Alright… Thanks Natsu."


	2. Stubborn Bills

Natsu pouted, standing outside the front of Lucy's apartment with an envelope full of jewels.

To be honest, it was quite a lot of money, and Natsu would have rather seen it be spent on food or something else that made more sense. But Lucy had to him to make sure it ended up in the land lady's hands along with the note about her plumbing problem.

He shoved the note in his pocket, readjusting his red coat as he ran a hand through his pink hair.

"Aye, Natsu." The blue cat muttered, sitting on the floor. "Are ya gonna do everything on the list?"

"Yep." He said, settling to cross his arms in a proud manner.

Happy hopped up from his tush and stood beside his partner, his expression serious as he readied himself for the task too.

They didn't need a second saying before the starting to make their was to where Lucy had told them the land Lady had lived, ready to simply hand over the dosh and the note.

He took his time to get to the door and knock upon it in his clumsy manner, sniffing slightly at the abusive smell that seeped through from beyond the land lady's apartment.

It wasn't long until the old lady yanked the door open, her judging eyes flicking around as she pushed her glasses up the brim of her nose; her grey hair messily sitting in a donut upon her head.

"What do you want, kid?" She asked, her breath ghastly as she looked up at Natsu, seeming impatient. The smell was definitely something she was cooking. Or brewing by the smell of it.

"I just came to pay Lucy's bill." He replied easily.

"Lucy?"

"Yeah, Lucy."

The woman looked him up and down, as if deciding whether or not his actions were legit.

"Who's Lucy?" She finally said.

Natsu gave a flat look at that.

Lucy had been living here a long time, and this lady had cleaned for room for seven years after they had been at Tenrou. Surely she would know who in the hell Lucy was.

"Lucy. Blonde, this tall-" He held a hand to his shoulder, "Pretty face, Lucy. She's in Fairy Tail, her dad sent her presents for seven years straight and you took some of her clothes-"

The lady gave a puzzled look at Natsu's words, as if barely convinced at what he was saying.

"What is the girl's last name?"

"Heartfilia."

"..."

"..."

"OHHH. THAT LUCY." She said, practically gasping as she held onto the door frame, her purple dressing coat practically whipping Natsu in the process. "Why didn't you say so!"

"Ser-"

"I'm afraid she'll need to give me the money herself."

"Hoi… she's sick, so we came to do it for her." Natsu defended, folding his arms as he gave the woman a crumpled expression. He wasn't going to give up that easy after all. How soft did she think he looked?

"Aye!" Happy added, settling himself on Natsu's shoulder for a clearer view, his tail curling around the boy's fluffy pink locks.

The woman looked concerned by Happy's appearance but then again, it wasn't like hers was much less concerning.

Alas, she continued, "Is all her rent in there?"

"Every jewel exact. Lucy counted it in front of us." He nodded, holding the envelope over.

She took it swiftly, tucking it immediately into her dressing coat pocket.  
"Oh and also," He said, hesitating before deciding not to bother with the note. "The sink in Lucy's apartment, it's drippin' real bad."

He nodded, matter-of-factly. It really did need fixing, not that Natsu knew much about plumbing, but there was literally a puddle all the way near her fridge. It needed fixing considering how much rent she paid.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, but I can't do anything about that."

"Eh? Whaddya mean? Aren't you the land lady?"

"That's right."

"Then how come you ain't gonna fix it?"

"I didn't break it now did I?"

He frowned, "Hey, you own this place so-"

"I said there's nothing I can do about it!" She snapped, yanking herself back into the room. "And I won't change my mind!"

With that, the granny slammed the shut right in Natsu and Happy's face, leaving them standing there with nothing but confusion.

"Aye… Natsu?"

"What?"

"You shoulda just given her the letter."

"Shut up." He said, nodding the cat off his head and into the sleeves of his red coat. "I gotta get her to fix it, Happy." Natsu added, his voice growing softer.

"Aye."

The two slumped to sit on the tiled floor, leaning against the wall not too far from the granny's door, watching it absentmindedly.

"But how are we gonna do it? Fight?"

He raised a brow, suddenly, types of fighting popping into his head.

He could challenge her! And if he won, she would have to do something for him in return! Yes! He clamped his hand into a fist, excited for the planning that had begun in that creative brain of his; his fist practically lighting up on fire until he was finally pulled away from his fantasy, Happy yanking on his cheek impatiently.

"No fighting."

"Hoi! I wasn't even..."

"Natsu! I know what we have to do!" The cat sounded exited this time.

"Eh?"

"Aye, Natsu… we have to persuade her!"

"What, like bribe her?"

"Hmm, sort of."

"What would Lucy try to do?"

"Aye… she'd probably dress up in one of her silly costumes and flirt."

"But she's an old lady." Natsu said with a flat look.

"Aye Natsu. But you're a young man."

The cat did a smug grin as the pink haired boy raised a brow.


	3. Land Lady

"I dunno if this will work, Happy."

"Aye! Trust me! I'm sure of it! This is defiantly the kind of thing Lucy would do!"

Natsu frowned slightly, looking down at his attire in an unimpressed manner. He looked like an idiot, the jeans felt way too right in comparison to his usual white trousers and western style boots looked wrong, not to mention narrow.

"Why the cowboy boots..?"

"Old ladies love country music! I heard Lucy say it once." The cat nodded, proud. Natsu wasn't even sure what country music was.

He was only used to the stuff they played at festivals in magnolia; and he liked that sort of stuff, it reminded him of food and big crowds with market stalls and the smell of ash. Assuming by the clothes, Natsu decided that he didn't like country music. The clothes weren't worth it.

"Uh.. Okay. There is one thing Lucy would have that this doesn't."

"Aye? What is it?"

"A shirt!" Natsu grumbled, punching his own chest in protest. "I feel like Gray, and it's uncomfortable."

"Aye, but she'll find you more likeable this way."

"Happy, I don't think she'll care what I'll look like."

"Natsu! Everyone cares about looks! It's a given fact people are nicer to those who they find good looking! Aye, you should know; it's probably why Lucy's so nice with you."

"Yeah right, I gotta convince her with words."

"But you're bad at that."

"Well.. That's the point in the plan.."

"Aye! And this is the plan!"

"Ugh.. Just... A shirt!"

"Got it!" The cat yelled, throwing a blue flannelette at the boy, and he pulled it on like a jacket, buttoning it simply to complete the effect. "There's no way my plan will fail! It's Lucy proof!"

"Hoii. What am I supposed to do when I get to the door again? She's gonna know just me again."

"Ahh Natsu. You have to use your body."

"My body?" The boy raised a brow, "Happy, I don't think you get what we're trying to do."

"I do! We need to get her to fix Lucy's apartment."

"Right."

"So you just have to persuade her, make her love you and then when you ask, there's no way she'll say no!"

"...Alright. But if this doesn't work we're going for my plan."

"Aye Natsu, you can't fight an old lady!"

"Ugh!"

"You look great." The cat purred as he gave a warm smile, successfully avoiding the question.

He tottered across the tiles as he looked up at his newly improved fire mage, who only watched him questionably.

"Now let's knock!" The cat fluttered up on his wings, pushing Natsu's back gently with his paw.

"Alright.." When they finally reached the door once again, Natsu let his hand drum on the wood, it swinging open to reveal that foul smell, this time mixed with the strong scent of talcum powder.

"Hello?" The old lady asked, bringing her eyes up to Natsu, a permanent frown on her face. "Who are you?"

Natsu did an awkward laugh, perhaps since he really had expected the lady to have remembered him, it hadn't even been an hour ago.  
Natsu glanced to the side, grumbling quickly as he noticed his blue companion had ditched him.

"Uh… Hey…o?"

He shoved his signature grin onto his face, trying to stay as chilled as possible. Though he wasn't sure if it was actually working, after all, it wasn't really his department to stun someone; and he had never really done it. That wasn't his form of convincing, he was more fond of the fists and that always promised results.

"Say, have I seen you before?"

Natsu perked up slightly, already- though to him it felt like finally- she had remembered him and they could abandon this stupid plan.

"Yeah, I just wan-"

With a high pitched squeal, Natsu's words were cut short, the little old lady bouncing up and down in excitement.

"OOOH! Bryce Condack! I never thought I'd see the day that you'd be on my doorstep!"

Natsu raised a brow at that, his expression completely bewildered. He had never heard that name in his entire life and considering Natsu's pink hair… he was confused on how she could actually mistake him for anyone else. Especially since she had literally seen Natsu before when he paid Lucy's bill.

"Will you come in, please!?"

Suddenly the energy from the woman changed, and Natsu felt slightly shocked. It was like Granny Porlyusica gone wrong and it was more than uncomfortable. On top of that, did this mean Happy's plan had actually worked or did this mean Natsu was supposed to start acting like seduction Lucy inside the house. With a shrug, he could barrel answer himself, being yanked into the apartment like a rag doll. Inside smelt awful, and if it weren't for all the blankets everywhere; it probably would have been quite a large apartment.

Not for the life of him could Natsu pinpoint the name she had called him, but he assumed it was good since now he could easily ask for a favour as… uh… whatever she had called him.

"Sit! Sit!" She cooed, disappearing behind the wall; he could literally hear her scatter through the mess beyond. He wondered if his house seemed this messy to Lucy, because he felt a though this old woman was a whole other level of the word untidy.

He did sit, hoping that false obedience would help him get what he wanted, but he was already growing bored of being quiet.

"Uh, ya know, I came for a reason."

"Oh Mister Condack! I'm sure you did~ You must have read my letter!"

He flicked his eyes back between the door and sighed a little, not noticing the soft quiver of the older lady's voice and she stepped out with a large wooden box; dumping herself beside him.

"You know, I'm surprised you're here and well. Last I saw on the news, you were down with a terrible sickness; barely able to get out of hospital!"

"Oh hah, yeah I guess I got over that! Anyway, I wanted to-"

"Here I keep all your favourite books, I loved the one where you made it seem like the girl was in trouble, but then really it was the boy all along…"

"Ah… a writer…" He grimaced at his get up slightly, so she hadn't mistaken him for a country singer… Happy's plan had technically failed. "But I wanted to-"  
"Maybe since you're here, you can sign my book-"

"It's not what I-"

"Please, it will only take a moment-"

"Lady-"

"Then I'll answer whatever."

He grumbled at that, knowing that it was technically a fair trade. If he wasn't being mistaken for some crazy writer whom he had no idea of who he was.

"Alright!"

He was hot, his irritation for the situation was angering him, but that was easy… All he had to do was sign some letter and bam! Lucy gets her plumbing fixed.

Easy!

She pushed a pen and book into his fingers, sitting uncomfortably close beside him. Flipping over the book, he let his eyes scan the cover; the back of a blonde girl seated on a bench; the title "Misleading". He couldn't help but quickly be reminded once again of the blonde he knew all too well.

With a shrug, he opened the page and luckily there was the real author's name in capitals. So he simply scribbled the initials in a messy fashion and slammed the book shut; plonking it on the table to avoid forgery suspicion.

Leaning back into the chair, he continued to speak. After all, now the land lady owed Natsu… uh… 'Bryce' a favour.

"So… anyway, I wanted to ask… My friend lives upstairs. And she's having some problems with her kitchen sink. Can you send some one to fix it?"  
There was a quiet silence as he dragged his eyes to look back at her; she was simply staring at him with the box on her lap like an angry child.

"No."

"What?! You said-"

"I said I would answer whatever."

"But-"

"I answered no."

"DAMMIT, WHAT THE HELL?!" He couldn't help but spark up a bit, wasn't he some famous writer or something right now, and she was still refusing to fix one damn sink?!

Though…

That was the last thing he got to say.

Because before he knew it he had been kicked out of her apartment and he wanted to explode.


	4. Cornelia

"I hope you're the one who's gonna tell Lucy her bill went up after that stunt you pulled..."

"HOI! I'll get that lady to change it back, she was just being grumpy..."

"You basically trashed her apartment, Natsu..."

"Yeah!... Well.. I didn't mean to." He pouted, slouching as he yanked off the plaid shirt to replace it with his red coat.

"But now we didn't get the water fixed..."

"Yeah, I know."

"Lucy's gonna be maaaaaad~" The cat taunted, hopping into a hover to fly beside the boy who was now wallowing a little in self pity for failing.

"This was only cuz you made me dress up like an idiot."

"Aye! It only failed because you didn't flirt like I told you to!"

"You're not coming on the next one!"

"Huh?!"

"Yeah! You can stay with Lucy." Natsu scolded, just irritated in general by now.

"The next job?"

"On the list."

"Are you serious?!" The cat blurted, "that's not fair!"

"It totally is! I'll do the next one myself!"

"But you'll mess it up!"

"No way!"

"Aye."

"No. Way."

"Aye! Fine! I don't care, at least if you mess up, Lucy will only be mad at you."

"She won't be mad."

"If you say so."

They both shot one another a cross expression, neither one of them too glad about their tiny argument.

It didn't take them long to return back to Lucy's apartment, them walking in silence because they were both too stubborn to simply admit that the plan was never going to work anyway. But it was true, Natsu hadn't exactly followed the original plan, but even so; the original plan was doomed to fail to begin with. You could only budge that woman with another dose of cash and that factor hadn't occurred to either of them.

He pushed the door open, the smell of herbals practically drowning his senses as he moved inside her apartment with his cat.

"Hey, Luce!" He said, a lot more cheerful than deemed necessary.

She glanced up from the couch, her face pale so that when that soft pink lit up her cheeks as she smiled, it was very obvious.

"Hi, Natsu. Did it go okay?"

"Yep!" He lied quickly, "Happy wanted to come back and sit with you though-"

Happy shot the boy an angry look, but then glanced towards Lucy in a much happier way.

"Aye! I know you must want some company! We can watch movies and I can make you some fish!"

Lucy laughed gently, tugging at the blanket she had draped across her body. She looked so sleepy when she was sick, he hoped it wouldn't stay with her too long, they had jobs to get back to after all.

Speaking of jobs, he dragged his eyes back to his list, the paper already crumpled by his recent adventure. "_2\. Go to the dry cleaners and wash light and darks."_

He chuckled slightly, this one he knew would be easy. After all, he had to clean his own clothes, doing Lucy's wouldn't be much different.

"Okay, Lucy. Where's your laundry?"

She glanced back in the direction of her bedroom, raising her brows.

"I keep them in a basket, but all the colours are together so you will have to separate then when you get to the laundromat. My purse is on the desk, you can just grab some jewels from that."

"All good Luce! I know how to do it." He beamed a cheerful smile her way and then moved on ahead to fetch the laundry he had so easily assigned himself to.

Natsu heard her mumble something else, but Natsu muted it out. He was not going to fail the second thing on the list so easily, and if plans failed, he wouldn't have Happy there to come up with some Lucy-fied plan.

He swiped up the laundry basket, the plastic of it bending in his firm grip and he carefully made his way past Lucy and Happy in order to get to the door way.

"Okay! I won't be long." Natsu reassured them, swinging her door open and moving out of it quickly.

The laundromat was only a few blocks away from Lucy, a little further into town. It was quicker to get to than from when Natsu had to take his own; He and Happy's house was much further out into the countryside. Nevertheless, it made his trip much shorter and he arrived at the Laundromat in seconds.

He moved inside, the smell of lemon and fabric softener to hit his nose first, much more pleasant that the home of that wretched land lady; dumping the basket on the floor.

He had a couple of jewels of his own, so he hadn't bothered to pick up Lucy's purse. Besides that thing was only little and he'd probably lose it; then Lucy would be angry with him.

He pulled out some of the washing, either she wore a lot of clothes or she hadn't washed for over a month because she had tonnes of clothing. T-shirts, shorts, skirts; in fact he swore he saw the same pair of jeans twice. He started pushing the white materials in first, his face surprised at coming across several bra's and he wasn't sure on how to react; then once they were in he was left with a bunch of colours and blacks.

He blinked a little; from experience, Natsu didn't have a lot of trouble with washing his clothes. He wore the same things a lot and tended to shove them all in the same wash. But he also didn't have bright pink clothing, or greens or blues. Where were they supposed to go, dark or light?

He glanced around the laundromat, but there was only a young lady pulling her own washing out, so he peeked around at her and watched as she shoved in some soft pinks with her white materials.

Easy, so colours went with lights. He gave a satisfactory smile and then shoved Lucy's hot pink sweater in along with some pretty blue tights he'd never remembered her wearing and a lilac skirt.

With a slam of the door, he pressed quick wash and pushed in the jewels so that the lacrima washing machine kicked into action.

There. Done.

Natsu took a few steps back, sitting on the bench in the middle; watching as Lucy's clothes began to spin around.

"They don't look like your clothes." It was a female voice, and he glanced to the side to see the young woman settle herself down beside him.

She was gentle faced, looking a little bit like Cana mused with Mirajane. There was something teasing about her tone so he knew she wasn't accusing him of anything.

"Oh, they're not." He replied, yanking the basket towards him, admittedly not in the mood for talking to anyone else.

"Are they your girlfriend's?" Okay, maybe this girl had a little more Cana in her than he had assumed.

She rubbed her hands together, resting her green eyes on his face and he raised a brow.

"Nah, just my team mate, she's got a cold."

"Ah. Lucky. There's been a lot of sicknesses going around."

"Really? I didn't know."

"Yes, I'd say keep your eyes peeled and make sure she's getting her vitamins."

"That'll help?"

"It sure will!"

"Cool, thanks."

"You're from Fairy Tail right?"

"Yep."

She nodded, "A good Guild. You should be proud." The lady smiled at that, the expression causing her to de age a little and he really couldn't shake some kind of familiarity away.

They sat there in silence after that, the time ticking until finally there was a bing and the lady rose to her feet.

"If you leave the door open between washes, it won't charge you again." She piqued up, pulling her washing back into a basket she had on top of her dryer machine.

Natsu merely watched the lady, that familiarity not washing away from his mind.

"Hey, have I met you before or somethin'?"

The lady raised her brows, "What's your name?"

"Natsu."

"I'm afraid I haven't."

"Oh, okay."

The lady swung her basket up and into her arms.

"Will you do a favour for me, Natsu?"

He nodded, his own washing machine ringing to be pulled out.

"Can you tell Gildarts that Cornelia said hello?"

"Okay."

She gave Natsu a soft smile and walked out; leaving him along in the laundromat left a little dumbstruck and almost forgetting that the washing machine was done.

He didn't know the name Cornelia but, apparently she knew Gildarts so maybe he could pay the man a visit later in order to figure out why that woman was so familiar.

With a shrug, he moved towards the machine and opened the door, making sure it didn't click shut for money saving purposes; although… there was something a little unusual about everything.

Since everything that had been white, was now a bright pink colour, even the skirt and tight had changed.

He blinked, a little confused. That woman had put colours in hers, why the heck had his gone weird. Natsu pulled the hot pink jumper out, it soggy to the touch; and his hands wet; as he pulled them open to realise it was also staining his fingers.

He flicked his fingers around the jumper and pulled out the tag, a flat look falling across his face.

'Colour may bleed, wash alone to avoid staining.'

Crap.


End file.
